His College Fiance
by Starr Rose
Summary: Trouble's not over for the club and what means trouble for the club, means trouble for the club's old ladies. The continuing story of Juice and his old lady, Laura. **Juice x OC** (Follows story line of season two)
1. Chapter 1

**Laura**

Juice wrapped his arm around my waist and anchored me to his body. I'd been in town for two weeks and we had celebrated Christmas with the club. All except Opie, who had showed up for a day and then left again. Juice said he stayed on the road most of the time, only returning once or twice a week for an hour or two. I went to see Kenny and Ellie and they told me they hardly ever saw their dad. I figured I would give him time to heal.

"Baby, wake up. You have to work today. It's not Christmas anymore," I murmured. He pulled me tighter to him and wriggled his groin against my butt. I was only wearing his t-shirt and my panties and I felt how hard he was. I rolled my eyes but I was smiling. I could tell that he still hadn't opened his eyes.

"I don't want to wake up today. I just want to lie in bed with you all day and make you scream my name until your voice goes hoarse," he mumbled against my skin.

"You know I don't scream when I'm in the clubhouse," I scolded him.

"Which is why I want to talk to you about something after I make you quietly pant my name." He leaned forward and pressed his lips to the back of my neck. I rolled around to face him and kissed him softly on the lips. He opened his eyes and grinned down at me before rolling me onto my back and climbing on top of me. He warned me, "No foreplay."

Then he slid down my body and dragged my panties off. I whimpered when I felt his tongue assault my clit for a second before he slid back up my body and yanked his boxers down. He shrugged and said, "I love the way you taste. I can't help it."

Then he slid into me quickly and took me for a wild ride that had my fingers digging into his shoulder blades and my legs wrapping around his waist. I bit down on his shoulder in between panting his name and moaning. When we were done, he rolled into bed beside me and whispered, "I'm buying a house."

"You're what?" I sat up quickly and stared down at him. He was smiling so wide that it stretched his face to epic proportions.

"I want to buy a house. I don't know what house yet or where I'm going to buy it but I'm going to buy a house, Laura. And I want both our names on the lease, because if I go to jail or if something happens to me, I want you to be able to take care of that, meaning you would have access to my bank account and stuff."

I sighed. "Juice, I understand why you want to buy a house, but you can't put stuff in my name unless we're married and…."

He rolled over and opened his bedside table drawer. He pulled a small black box out of it and rolled back over to face me. He said slowly, "Look, I know that right now, we're not in a place to be married. You're in college a million miles away and I'm still working on getting stuff settled. But I want to marry you one day. I want to get started on it as soon as possible. I filled out some stuff and, after you sign, my bank account will be a joint bank account. You will still be able to have your bank account separate because I know you like to have your own, but you'll be able to access mine for whatever you need instead of me transferring money to you every month. I talked to the club's lawyer the other day and had him draw me up a will. If something happens to me, everything I own becomes yours. I even signed some papers that gives you power if I'm in the hospital. It's all worked out.

"If I buy a house and something happens to me, you'll be able to still pay the bills. I have enough money saved up to last at least three years on a house payment. I took care of everything. And I looked something up that said you're supposed to spend two month's paychecks on an engagement ring but that seemed like a lot seeing as how much I make with the club and all, so I only spent about fifteen hundred on it. Laura Moon Mase, will you marry me?"

He opened the box at that moment and a simple engagement ring sat before me. A silver band with small diamonds all around and a large, oval stone in the center. He informed me, "There's not a meaning behind it. I didn't get it because it reminded me of anything or because it would mean something special. I got it because I looked at it and thought, 'That would look good on her hand.' And I talked to Gemma and Clay and even your mom, who kicked me out, and most of them said yes. I even tried to talk to Opie but he wouldn't call me back. So, will you?"

I stared into his deep, soulful brown eyes and choked out, "Yes. God yes, I will marry you, Juan Carlos Ortiz."

He slipped the ring onto my finger and we made love again.

**Juice**

That ring looked damn good on her slender, tan finger. She was sitting across the clubhouse, talking to Tara and drinking a bottle of beer. Tara was clearly Jax's woman. Her eyes darted up to watch him every few seconds as he walked across the room. I was glad that Laura was so comfortable with her role. She rarely felt the need to watch me. When she did, I could feel her eyes on me but it wasn't in scrutiny. It was in admiration as I got a particularly difficult shot in pool or I lifted a box up on a shelf. If I caught her watching, I could go over and kiss her and she would grin at me.

"See that Moon's got an interesting new piece of jewelry," Chibs commented.

"Yep." I grinned. I didn't want to come right out and tell anybody. We agreed to wait until Gemma noticed. She was the queen bee. When she noticed, we would tell everybody else.

"I take it that it has to do with you circling all the houses for sale in the newspapers lately."

"I want to buy one so that she doesn't have to sleep in the clubhouse when she's here," I explained.

"Aye, the clubhouse is no place to be for a girl like Moon to be staying full time like she is."

"We're going to pick out a house this week. She has a couple more days before she goes home and we plan to get everything started. I'm only going to decorate and buy new things when she's in town. It'll be our little project." It was stupid that I was so excited but I truly was. I was a Son. I was supposed to be a tough, rough biker with a heart of steel, but I couldn't keep the grin off of my face or the excitement out of my voice. Laura Moon Mase was going to become Laura Moon Ortiz.

"Real cute, Juicy boy. You've got a lot of love for Moon."

"Yep. And soon I'm going to have a house with lots of stuff."

"You're just going to let her pick everything?"

"She knows best." Chibs laughed and rolled his eyes. It was then that I heard Gemma's cry of, "What in the hell is that, Laura Moon Mase?"

I looked up as Gemma dashed across the room in her high heeled boots and grabbed Laura's left hand. She held it up in the air, splashing beer across Tara's lap in the process, and cried out, "Is this an engagement ring? Did he finally ask? I know he planned on it but I didn't think he'd ever do it this soon!"

She grinned and nodded happily, looking over at me with eyes full of love. I crossed the room to her and took wrapped my arms around her from behind. Gemma let go of her hand and stared at us. She studied us. Laura grinned at her.

"Stay right here," she ordered. "Do not move."

She dashed away, leaving us standing in front of the club with my arms around her waist and her head tilted backwards to smile at me. Tig cried out, "What the fuck, Juice? No offense, Moon. Marriage is the worst possible thing you could do! Seriously! I tried it out once. It sucked!"

"You never tried it with Laura," I argued. "You've never been in love with a girl like Laura."

Gemma rushed over with her camera and took our picture really quick. She cried out, "As soon as Bobby gets back, we're having an engagement party! We'll double it up! He'll be back in a couple days! We'll have the best engagement party this club has ever seen! Most people just go and elope! We don't find out that they're even planning to get married until days later!"

"Come on, Gemma! Donna and Opie apologized after they did it!" Jax sighed.

"Whatever. We're having an engagement party!" There was no arguing with Gemma. She was the queen of the club and we all knew it. She was the original leader's old lady and, when he passed on, she became the old lady of the next leader. AND she was the mom of the next leader. There was no argument from anybody towards her.

"Thank you, Gemma," Laura said graciously. I nodded in agreement.

"And, of course, I will help you plan the wedding. Who do you want to have as your bridesmaids? When is this whole thing going down? I thought you wanted to wait until after college to get married to our favorite Puerto Rican boy…." Gemma grabbed Laura's hand and pulled her away from me.

I turned back to the men and they accepted me into their ranks. I got slapped on the back and Clay slipped a cigar into my hand. Everybody congratulated me and I grinned the widest I had grinned since I was patched in to the club. I had my family and Laura was going to be a part of my family.


	2. Chapter 2

****Quick author's note. I try to completely finish most of my fanfic before I post. I know I currently have a few in progress but I usually completely finish before I post. So, while reviews make me feel special and super encourage me to post, when I see followers, it makes me want to post a billion times faster because I know what it's like to follow a story that almost never posts. So thanks for following! I hope I can serve you well!****

**Laura**

The engagement/Bobby's return party was epic. Juice kept his arm anchored around my waist, never letting me leave his side. He barked at crow eaters to get us drinks regularly and we were celebrating. Bobby had his head buried between a ginger's legs and Tig was fucking with two or three crow eaters on the bar. I thought I spotted Opie for a second but he disappeared quickly. Jax said that he tried to talk to him but got nothing from it. I knew that he killed the Mayan he thought was responsible for Donna's death. Juice didn't tell me anymore than that and I didn't need to know. I just needed Opie to get his shit straight so his kids wouldn't suffer anymore.

The entire club drank to our engagement and to Bobby's release. Of course, for each toast, that meant we had to take two shots. The cheers ranged from, "To a brother getting out and a brother getting on lockdown" to "Congratulations to the great escape and my sympathy for a brother purposely putting himself in" to "You better treat her right, Juicy boy, cause we know where you sleep. Oh, and also woohoo Bobby!" Then Bobby sang some Elvis and passed out with a crow eater riding him. Somehow, probably had something to do with the ridiculous amount of whiskey I'd consumed, Juice and I ended up on the pool table with him snoring in my ear and me only wearing his cut and my underwear. I was woken by the sound of a phone ringing but snuggled further into Juice's arms and ignored it. Somebody else would get it.

Five minutes after the phone rang, we were woken by Clay's burly voice shouting, "Everybody get the fuck up now! Gemma's in the hospital!"

The club had never mobilized so quickly. I rolled Juice off of the table and he landed on the floor with a thud, waking up and staring at me with a wide eyed, surprised expression on his face. I ordered, "Get your shit. We got to go."

He said slowly, "Baby, I can see your tits."

"Gemma's in the hospital!"

"That means everybody else can see your tits!"

I pulled his cut around me tighter and slid off the pool table to stand over him, my feet on either side of his hips. I grabbed his hand and pulled him up, my ring glinting in the light as I did so. We dashed to his dorm room to yank clothes on. I yanked on a pair of sweat pants and his SAMCRO hoody while he pulled on the holster and everything. We rushed out to his bike and I hugged him tight around the middle as we raced to the hospital behind Jax and Clay. The nurse on duty nearly shit herself when we came in.

"We need Gemma Teller," Clay ordered. Juice and Chibs loaded Bobby onto a hospital stretcher. His hangover was so bad that he could barely keep his eyes open. Of course, waking up with his face dug into day old, worn out, used up crow eater pussy probably didn't help it. Crow eaters weren't the cleanest or the freshest on the best of days. On celebration days, the cleaned up a little better but after dancing and strutting around the clubhouse, the sweat built up and they got disgusting fast. They served their purpose okay but they weren't meant for anything other than one day use.

I dutifully sat outside of Clay's hospital room. It was an old lady's duty to take care of the queen bee. If Donna were alive, she'd be doing it too. Even though she hadn't been very involved in the club, she would have been there for the queen bee. That thought killed me for a second. Juice noticed and sat down next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and hugging me tight to his body.

"If Gemma's okay, we should start looking at houses today. You only have one more week in town and I have work to do with the club and I want to start before you leave. That way you can start looking at furniture and stuff while you're gone," he offered.

I smiled at him. "I'd love that, baby. After I see Gemma."

At that point, Tara came out and told that Gemma was fine except for a few final tests. I never knew that car wrecks where there were only a few scapes and bruises could cause so many problems. I'd been in a car wreck when I was younger and the worse thing I had to do was get a few x-rays and some stitches on my leg. That was during my mother's drinking period right after my dad ran out on us.

"Can I see her?" I asked Tara.

"Not at this point but I'll tell her to call you as soon as she gets home. She knows you'll be worried. You shouldn't be though…." Tara hesitated and I stared at her suspiciously. "Really, Laura. She'll be fine. She's just a little banged up right now. She'd want you to go with Juice. Get some house shopping done and show her what you get done. It'll make stuff better for her. She'll like to be involved."

I studied her for a second longer and nodded in agreement. Juice took my hand and pulled me up. I hugged Tara and whispered, "Thanks for taking care of her. She's like a Mom to me. It's hard to see her injured. Hard for all of us."

"She'll be fine, Laura. Go with Juice."

Juice pulled me up off the chair and I trailed behind him. I looked over my shoulder to Tara as she disappeared inside a door that must have housed Gemma. I wanted to break away from Juice and run to Gemma's side. But if she didn't want to see us, she must have had her reasons so I followed Juice dutifully. We went back to the clubhouse to get the print out that Juice made of all of the houses available in Charming. He didn't want to go too far from the clubhouse and I didn't want to leave Charming.

The first house was a pile of shit. One bedroom with the door hanging half off of the front of the house and the yard was roughly the size of a van. Juice and I only had to look at the house to know that we weren't going to be anywhere near it, much less raising kids in it. We rode on. The second and third houses were pretty and solidly built but they were too small. The fifth, sixth, and seventh weren't structurally sound. The eighth didn't have a big enough front yard. The ninth gave me a creepy vibe and Juice said the tenth was too close to a school. He didn't want any Samcro business to accidentally boil over into a school ground. I agreed. We continued to find problems with houses eleven through sixteen. It was six o'clock when we found house seventeen.

We'd never found anything more perfect for us. It was close enough in Charming for us to get club help when we needed it and for Juice to get to the clubhouse every day. However, it was on the very edge of the town and we wouldn't have to be directly involved in any club business. The yard was big enough for a trampoline, a pool, and a play place. It was a five bedroom, two and a half bath, full basement and attic set up, and a large living room. Gorgeous cedar paneling and amazing hardwood floors with a full garage. It could fit my car, Juice's car, and his dyna. It was perfect. As soon as we saw the outside, Juice broke in so we could wander around and look at it. I already knew how I wanted to paint it and decorate it. What kind of furniture I wanted. How I wanted everything done. I could tell Juice was on the same page as me and he promised, "As soon as we get back to the clubhouse, I'll look up everything I can on this house and we'll have the down payment within a week. I promise, baby. You like this house, it'll be ours."

"Well then we better get back to the clubhouse so we can start this and start celebrating."

The house was on market for $459,950. It was expensive but it was something we could swing. Especially since my college was free and Juice had been saving money for years. His credit was impeccable and we knew we could get the loan from the bank easily. We were well on our way to being home owners and we were sitting in the clubhouse with me on his lap and the laptop open in front of us, sipping Jack (him) and champagne (me). Then, Jax and Clay marched in and commanded, "Church, now. Laura, go see Gemma. She's at home."

I rolled my eyes but nodded in agreement. Juice kissed me quickly and promised, "I'll pick you up later. Take a cab out there."


	3. Chapter 3

**Juice**

"Laura is going to be pissed if she finds out about this," I groaned.

We were running favors for Luann. God I wished Otto had picked a better old lady. I fucking loved porn and Laura was even cool watching it with me sometimes. But me being involved in it was completely different. It had been two days since the problem with Caracara and since Bobby got shot. Laura hadn't freaked out over that because she understood that she didn't need to know about the Mayan gun deal that had gone bad. She also didn't need to know that Opie marched directly into the line of fire. She was pissed at him still because he wasn't returning her calls. She'd been to see Kenny and Ellie almost every day since she'd been back in Charming and she only had another week in town. She was spending most of it with Gemma, helping her with her accident. I was grateful for that. With all the Mayan bullshit, it was dangerous to have my young fiancé around all the time.

"Suck it up," Jax ordered. "You think Tara is fucking excited for me to be around all this? Of course she's not! But she gets that I have to do it and Laura will too. She's been part of this a lot longer."

"Yeah but you're not the one watching hours of porn everyday with the excuse of putting it up on the internet while you hang out in a studio with a bunch of porn stars," I growled.

"Be a man. Tell her to suck it up. Fuck, you're buying a house for her. You're letting her pick whatever she wants to decorate it, on your dime. You'll be getting a double paycheck as MC mechanic and as Caracara technician. You'll be making enough money to get that house payment off your back ten years earlier than you thought. Let Moon know that," Tig growled.

"Let Moon know what?" Laura walked into the clubhouse with a basket of freshly washed laundry and a bowl of muffins stacked neatly on top. She looked fucking adorable in her jeans and oversized white t-shirt. Her long black hair was braided down her back and she wasn't wearing any makeup. It was a sight that I had to drink in. Especially with her leaving for Kentucky in just four days.

"Well, the club is helping out a friend and expanding avenues," I stalled.

"That's great. Is this something that needs discussed with me out of the room or something that can be discussed with me in the room?" she asked, reminding me why I loved her. "I need to put your clothes up anyway and start thinking about packing."

"No, baby. I think this is something that you and I have to talk about alone. Without the company of all the guys around. You know, just you and me and…."

She stared at me with her eyebrow raised before she turned to Half Sack and demanded, "What's going on? I love Juice but he's retarded enough to think that I don't know when he's stalling."

"Well…Juice should…."

"Now, Half Sack, or you'll have No Sack and then you'll be leaving that pretty young bitch that's holed up in Kentucky all disappointed," she threatened.

"Now, Moon, you…you know we're working on getting Cherry transferred to Ireland," Half Sack said slowly.

"Well, maybe she won't have to make a transfer. I mean, a lot of accidents can happen to a girl that technically doesn't exist," Laura said with a shrug. Chibs stared over at me with his eyebrows raised. I smirked a little. My girl was meant to be a Samcro old lady.

"Juice is going to be working at Caracara as the technician. He'll be downloading all the stuff to the internet and helping with their technology in the studio every day. He found out yesterday but he'll be getting a double paycheck and it will help pay off the house sooner and you'll be able to redecorate however you want."

"I've never heard somebody snitch so fast," Chibs said in admiration.

"From now on if we need information we'll just send Moon out with a handgun and a megaphone," Tig said with half seriousness.

"No, we won't." All of our heads snapped up at the sound of Opie's voice from the doorway. "That's not even something to joke about. Going out there could get her killed. She needs to go back to Kentucky, where it's safe for her."

Laura commanded, "Juice, we'll talk about the porn thing in a few minutes. Half Sack, you are terrible under pressure. Opie, outside. Now."

"Laura, I need to…"

"Now," she repeated.

He turned directly around and marched outside with Laura following close behind. Tig sighed, "She seriously gives me half a chubby when she talks like that. It's not dirty talk but it's still fucking hot."

"She is still my old lady, Tig," I warned.

"Whatever. Right now she's acting like Ope's old lady so if she's going all over the place, she's free game."

"She is not doing anything with Opie. She is my old lady. If you keep talking about her like that, I will break your fucking jaw. Got it, Tigger?" I snarled.

"Careful, Juicy boy," Chibs said slowly. "Tig's just playing around. Take the laundry to your room and wait for Laura to get in."

I glared but did as Chibs said.

**Laura**

"Are you fucking stupid? They call Juice the retard around here but I really think it's you, Opie. I really do," I ranted at the giant man. He knew enough to look down at his feet, ashamed of what he had done. "You were in for a few hours on Christmas. _Christmas_, Opie. Do you know what it does to those kids? They lost their mom, Opie!** Mary **is with them all the time. She'll barely let me see them without completely supervising me. She says she doesn't want me "indoctrinating" them. She says I'm a danger to how they'll see SAMCRO. She says I'm a danger to their way of life. She says a lot worse than that but I'm not going to fucking repeat it. They need their dad! God damn it!"

"Moon, I know…I just….it's been…"

"Don't you dare tell me that it's been hard, Harry Opie Winston. You think I don't know that it's been hard for you? You think I can't tell? You think I don't remember those nights you called me crying? I do. I also remember how I haven't seen you since I got back to Charming. Or how you forgot to mention how you're never in town. Or how you walked into the middle of a fucking gunfight the other day. How would you like to explain all of that shit? Huh?"

Somewhere in the middle of that rant, I started poking him in his chest and glaring up at him. He stammered, "How did you find out about the Mayan gunfight?"

"I have my ways, Opie. You need to fucking remember that. I am an old lady, Gemma Teller is one of my favorite people in the world, and I am the only person who Tara feels comfortable talking to. I have a fugitive hiding out near my hometown, I have enough blackmail to bury Half Sack, and Juice sucks at keeping things from me. You won't ever know how I figured things out."

"Look, Moon. It's just something that…."

"It's not something that you have to do, you giant asshole. You're going to get yourself killed and leave those kids with Mary. You remember Mary, don't you? The woman who basically tried to fuck up your childhood? Yeah. She's the one that's raising your kids and you seem to just be perfectly okay with it."

"Look, I love my kids."

"Then prove it, Opie. Get your shit straight. I don't expect it to be done by the end of the night or by the time I leave in four days. But I do expect that in one month, your shit will be in line. Because I will make the flight back here, Opie. And if I have to do that, I am going to drug you, wait until you fall asleep, and shave you. Everywhere. You'll be a big, hairless, naked, mole rat of a man! Now get your shit straight!" I smacked him in the chest for good measure and spun on my heel to storm away. He reached out and snaked an arm around my waist. He pulled me to him and hugged me tightly for a long moment.

"Thanks, Moon. For not giving up on me," he murmured before he let me go. I nodded at him and walked back inside. Chibs pointed towards the dorm rooms and I walked down the hall to where I knew Juice was waiting in our room. He was standing by the dresser, calmly loading clothes into the drawers. I sat on the bed.

"Let's talk about this Caracara thing," I sighed.

"Baby, it's club business. Jax took over Caracara and we're partners now."

I motioned towards the bed and he came to sit beside me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to him. I rested my head against his chest and said slowly, "Don't fuck a porn star. I put up with the chance that you might sleep with a sweetbutt from another crew or any random girl that you meet on the road. I know you don't fuck around in Charming and I'm grateful for that. I really am. So don't fuck around on me with a Caracara girl. Look all you want, I know you will. Get boners, get hard, and then come back to the clubhouse with blue balls. But do not fuck a Caracara girl. If I find out that you do, that'll be the end, Juice. I'm sorry."

He lifted my head up towards his face and swore, "Laura Moon Mace, eventually Ortiz, I swear on my cut that I will not lay a finger on a Caracara girl. It'll be strictly business."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"Wanna tell me what happened with Opie?"

I stared into his deep brown eyes. I knew that Juice worried about the way I was with Opie. I knew he didn't like the connection between the two of us, which was why I never told him about the day Opie kissed me. It was better to leave mistakes like that quiet. Everybody in the club had their secrets and that one was mine.

"I just yelled at him a little for being stupid. You know, the club calls you the retard but really you're not the dumbest."

"But I am dumb?" He questioned, raising one eyebrow.

"Sometimes. But right now, Opie takes the cake. And I might have to call you to hide Mary's body if she doesn't chill the fuck out when I'm over there."

He chuckled. "Be nice, baby. Killing an old lady is serious business. You know what happens to somebody who hurts a club member. I want to keep you around."

I rolled my eyes and kissed him. I informed him, "I'll be around forever."


	4. Chapter 4

**Juice**

My phone rang as I grabbed the hospital attendant's arm. I cussed and grabbed it while my other hand closed over her mouth. It was Laura.

"Baby, now is not the best time," I growled out. I cradled the phone between my ear and my shoulder while my hands tightened on the nurse. She grunted and I knew the sound would carry.

"Juan Carlos Ortiz, what the fuck are you doing?" Laura demanded.

"Look, baby, I'm on club business right now. It's not the best time."

The hospital attendant grunted again and I clamped my hand over her mouth tighter. Laura shrieked, "Caracara business? Are you fucking one of those girls? You answered your phone while you were fucking a porn star!? You stupid asshole!"

"Laura, that's not what's going on. Will you chill the fuck out? I'm on club business and I will have to call you back. I love you. Bye."

I hung up and dragged the attendant closer to me. I stared into her eyes and ordered, "Forget the names on that list. Forget the money the bounty hunters offered you for a phone call. Forget this ever happened and that you ever saw me. Because we do not play around with witnesses. Forget about calling the cops and reporting this because you will never make it to trial. There are those of us who value our privacy and you fuck that up every day without knowing what the bounty hunters want from us. We're getting really tired of this shit and, if I were you, I'd stop before somebody less friendly than me finds out what you're doing."

She nodded in agreement, her eyes wide with fear. I fucking hated having to scare females. It always made me wonder what Laura would do in their situation. She'd probably try to head-butt them or bust them in the face. She was a scrapper. My gorgeous, tough, amazing fiancé, who was pissed at me because she thought I answered the phone while I was having sex with a Caracara girl. I groaned internally.

"Don't say anything to anybody about this or we will find you." I let go of her and shoved her away from me. I ordered, "Go back to work and don't forget to destroy that list you have. And I'm not on it so don't even think about trying to turn me in to somebody."

I walked back to my bike and took off. I'd heard from Jax earlier in the day that they'd managed to get Tig free and deliver the guns. I was supposed to meet them at the exchange but I was in a pissy mood and really just wanted to call Laura back and explain to her what was going on. I stopped by a motel on the way there and rented a room. When I got inside, I called Laura on the prepaid. It took me three times to call before she answered.

"What?" she snapped.

"It wasn't what you thought, Laura," I said quickly.

"So I didn't hear a girl grunting in the background?"

"Look, that was club stuff. I wasn't fucking her. I was taking care of some stuff for the club. It wasn't sexual."

"Then why the fuck did you answer your phone? You know it's better to not answer your phone when you're on club business," she scolded.

"Look, baby, today has been a stressful day. I'm on my way to a club meet up. I won't be able to call you for the rest of today or tomorrow."

"Sweetbutts be there?" she demanded.

"Always is."

"Best not call me for a few days then."

"Laura…"

"Juice, right now, I'm mad. I don't even know why I'm mad. I just thought of you fucking one of those porn girls and I just couldn't handle it. And right now, I'm handling it even worse knowing that you're going to be around sluts who trade favors for power. When I was home, I could expect you to wait on me because it was only for a few days. But I can't expect that now and it's my fault and it's driving me nuts."

"Baby, baby, baby, it's not your fault. You're doing good. You're getting an education. You're smart and I can't hold you back. I can't keep you in Charming. I don't blame you for that. I blame myself for ever trying," I soothed her.

She sobbed. I hadn't heard her cry over our relationship since she'd been gone. She cried the day I left her and she cried over club business but she never cried over our relationship. I said calmingly, "Laura, Laura, Laura, please. Please don't cry. I swear, I won't sleep with anyone tonight. God, I promise. I won't sleep with anyone."

"Tonight! You won't sleep with anyone tonight! But you can't promise me that forever. You can't promise me that you won't be lonely on the road and take up with someone else. And I have to deal with that. I knew what I was getting into when I got with you and it's not fair of me to ask that of you but it's killing me."

"You can ask anything of me, Laura. I don't want to lose you. God, I can't lose you."

Her sobs were frantic at that point. She was gasping for breath and crying. "Call me later, Juice. Just call me later. I love you."

She hung up at that point and I slung my prepaid across the room.

**Laura**

It was three a.m. I hadn't talked to Juice in three days so I knew it wasn't him. I rolled over in bed and snatched my phone off the bedside table. I snarled, "Andrea, if this is you again, I'm going to beat your ass. You have three days until you leave. No I can't help you reach Half Sack!"

"It's not the sweetbutt," Opie's voice came over the line and I sat up quickly.

"Ope, what's going on? You called! What's happening?"

"Well, I'd like to know why Juice is moping around the club like a fucking asshole, screaming at crow eaters and drinking himself under the table at night. Second, I'm back in Charming with my kids."

"That's great! Are you seeing them regularly? Are you back in your house?" I demanded.

"No. Not yet. But I'm working on it. I have them at the garage every now and then and I'm trying to take care of them. I really am. It's just hard to be around them. I'm constantly fucking worried that they're going to start asking me how I could let that happen to their mom. I don't know what to say to them. I don't know what to do."

"But you still have to be there for them, Opie."

"I know. I'm working on it. I promise. I swear I'll take care of them."

"Taking care of them is more than just supporting them. You need to love them, Opie."

"I will. I swear I'll start being better, Moon. I've gotten lectures all around from everybody. I don't know why yours are always different but they seem to crack through my skull a lot easier."

"That's because I'm Laura Moon and I'm part of SAMCRO, just like those men."

"Speaking of you being a part of the MC, what's going on with you and Juice?" Opie transitioned the conversation easily.

"Separation anxiety," I answered. "I made a mistake and thought he was fucking a Caracara girl and then he told me he was going to a club party and it just hurt a lot. It's never hurt before but it hurts now."

"Well, before you weren't a million miles away, Moon. I get that it hurts but you gotta understand that it's not easy for him either. He's trying to do the same things he did when you were home but it's not the same. He doesn't have you to come back to when he's been gone on club business for a while. He doesn't have you to relieve the tension."

"Aren't there better ways to relieve it?"

"Think about it, sweetheart. If his head is focused on his dick, you really think he's going to be able to get the hell out of the way when the time comes? Any chick he balls is no big deal. You can't change your mind just because you don't live in Charming anymore."

"You're right. I'll have to call him. God, now he's going to know he's right."

"If that's the biggest of your worries, you'll be fine."


	5. Chapter 5

**Juice**

My phone rang with Laura's ringtone and I snatched it up instantly. I greeted her with, "I'm sorry. I swear to God I'm sorry. You're my fiancé. You're the only girl that matters to me and the only girl that will ever matter to me. I want to live in _our_ house and have babies one day and be happy with you and…."

"Juice, you were right; I was wrong," she interrupted. "I'm sorry. You have no reason to be. I don't want to not be with you. I've spent the last few days pissed at myself."

I was surprised. I wasn't expecting her to apologize. The other brothers teased me because they never apologized to their women and I always did. They would let their women be mad at them for weeks before the issues were resolved. I couldn't let Laura go more than a week without fixing things.

"Don't be. God, don't be."

"Look, I'll never like that you sleep around but you have my permission. It's fine."

"Then so can you," I said seriously. I didn't even think about it. I just blurted it out.

"Juice, I don't want anybody but you."

"You were a virgin when we got together, Laura. I am the only person you've ever been with. You should have the freedom to experience some new things."

"I don't want to, Juice."

"Then don't. But you have the freedom to and I never want you to forget that," I promised.

"I'm going to start looking at things to buy for the house. Did you get the loan?"

"Yep and I put the down payment on it. Things are looking good. You have my bank account information. Just order whatever you want and have it sent to the clubhouse. I'll take care of the rest. I won't arrange anything until you get home. We'll do that together."

"I'll send you links to everything so we can discuss everything together."

"You don't have to do that, baby. I know I'll love everything."

"Nope. You have to agree with it before I'll purchase it."

I laughed. Clay yelled, "Juice, do you mind getting off the fucking phone and helping Chibs get this damn van into the garage?!"

"Shit. I gotta go, baby. I'll…."

Suddenly, there was an explosion. I looked over in time to see the van on fire and Chibs laying on the concrete with a puddle of blood forming around him. I dropped the phone and raced to him.

**Laura**

There was an explosion. There was an explosion and then the line went dead. I sat on my room, clutching the phone to my ear and crying out, "Juice! Juan Carlos Ortiz please answer me! Please! God, please!"

I started sobbing uncontrollably and leapt up off the bed. I began shoving things in my suitcase. There was a sudden knock on the door and I shouted, "It's unlocked!"

Kate wandered in and froze in her tracks. She demanded, "What's going on?"

"I was on the phone with Juice and there was an explosion and the line went dead and I don't know what happened and…." I gasped for air and Kate raced over to me. She guided me backwards onto the bed and handed me a bottle of water. She looked around at the destruction I had caused in just a few moments as I tried to shove everything into bags.

"What other numbers do you have? Who else can we call for information?"

"Opie!" I cried out. "Dear God please call Opie!"

Kate grabbed my phone and started scrolling through my contacts. She held the phone to her ear and rubbed soothing circles on my back while she waited. Finally, she greeted, "Hello, is this Opie?"

I listened to her end of the conversation intently. "No, this is Kate, Laura's friend….No, no she's fine….Well, she heard about the blast at the garage and she's really worried about her boyfriend, Juice….Okay….No do you know anything else?...Look, I won't say anything and I don't want her to have to worry. She's having a panic attack right now. Can't you just give me something to tell her?...She's thinking about coming home and she really can't miss anymore class….Yeah…..Alright….I'll tell her. Just have him call her as soon as he can with updates….If she can talk, yeah….Alright, alright! Here!"

She stuck her arm out with the phone in her hand. I snatched it and cried out, "Ope, what's going on?"

"Nothing I can tell you over the regular line. Juice is fine. Chibs is hurt. We're trying to figure it out now. One of us will call you with updates. Do not come back home. It's not safe for you."

"He's okay? Perfectly okay?"

"Yes. Calm down. Take care of yourself. Be careful, Moon."

"I love you, Ope. I miss you."

"Love you too, Moon."

**Juice**

As soon as the cops showed up, I knew that we were all going to county. There was no way around it. I'd just gotten Laura to calm down about Chibs almost dying and now Gemma was going to have to call her and tell her that I would be in county and probably prison. In the van, I just put my head in my hands and was sick to my stomach. I'd been in prison before and it sucked ass. It would suck ass even more now that Laura was going to have to deal with my shit.

It was a meeting for Christians. She was going to think that I tried to shoot a bunch of Christians until I was able to tell her otherwise. Fucking Zobelle. He was one step ahead of us again. Every fucking time we tried to get him. He fucked Otto over and tried to kill Chibs. We had to retaliate but Jax was right to warn us. We should have listened to Jax. Because we didn't, I was going to have to inform Laura that I disappointed her. I wouldn't be able to marry my fiancé because I would be too busy serving a fifteen year prison sentence.

When we got to the jail, booking sucked ass. As did being strip searched. There was no way I was hiding anything in my asshole. I was not up for that ever. Sitting in that jail cell, I just stared at the floor. Clay growled, "Will you calm down? Gemma will tell Laura, you'll call and explain, and Laura will forgive you."

"We just got engaged. We're working on buying a house. It's her first year at college. She just started her new classes. She doesn't need this stress and she's never going to forgive me for this." I was hyperventilating a little. Clay didn't understand. Gemma loved the club more than life. She would choose the club over Clay any day and him being in jail wouldn't bother her for a second. Laura loved me more than the club and, while she would never make me choose her over the club, she still wouldn't be happy about it.

"Laura knows how your life is. You'll be fine. Now come on. We're going out to the yard and we're going to see if we can get us some protection from someone. Maybe we can find a way to get hold of Laroy."

**Laura**

"Laura, wait up!" I turned to see Kevin from my Chem 134 class running up to me. His jacket was pulled up over his head to shield him from the rain that was falling in sheets. It was crazy how often it rained in Berea. Once or twice a week there would be a torrential downpour. I waited and let him catch up to me. He lowered his jacket and slid under my umbrella with me.

"What's up?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to go over the concepts with me tonight at around six or six thirty. We can order pizza and eat together or something," he offered. "I just know that you understood what we went over in class today and I have no clue how to do it."

"Of course. That would be perfect for me. I get off at six. Do you want to come over to my dorm and we can work together in the study?"

"Yeah that'd be awesome. I'll see you then."

I smiled at him and he walked away. I turned to head to my writing class and my phone rang. It was Gemma. I answered, "Hey, Gem. What's up?"

"Hey, darling. What are you doing right now?" She sounded tired. Exhausted really. Gemma was always tired but she sounded even more so than usual.

"I'm on my way to my writing seminar. What's up?"

"Well, has Opie called you?"

"No."

"Oh. Well this can wait until after class. You just go to class sweetheart and call me afterwards. It's not a big deal whatsoever. Just some little club housekeeping things that need done. I'll tell you everything after you get out of class. What time do you get out of class and work?"

"Well, I have class until four and work until six. Can you call me at six?" I asked. It was weird for Gemma to call for no reason but she hadn't been acting like herself since the car wreck the night of Bobby's celebration/our engagement party. She'd been a little strange.

"Of course I can, baby. I'll talk to you then. Love you, Moon."

"Love you too, Gemma."

I hung up and shook it off and walked to class. By six o'clock, I had forgotten about Gemma calling me. I was on my way to my dorm to get ready to meet Kevin in the lobby's study when my phone rang. I was hoping it was Juice. He hadn't called me in a few days but I figured it was because he was busy. Sometimes he got so caught up in club business that he couldn't call or talk to me for a few days. It wouldn't be safe or he just wouldn't have time. I understood it. It sucked but it didn't stop me from loving him. When I checked my phone, it was Gemma.

"Hey, Gemma!"

"Hey, honey. You sound happy."

"Today's been a pretty good day. I got a research paper back and I did amazing on it so that brightened my day and one of the kids I work with made me a macaroni necklace today so that was pretty amazing."

"That sounds great, honey. Hey, I need to talk to you about something about Juice."

"What's up? Is he in trouble again? He's been trying really hard recently not to be an idiot. He really wants to prove to the club that he can be trusted to do good things."

"And he's doing really well with that. He's proving it to all of us. Especially since he and the other guys had a run in with the cops again."

"A run in? What happened?" I was worried. The cops hated SAMCRO.

"Well, they're all in county right now."

"Juice too?"

"Yes. They were booked three days ago. Opie was going to call you but he's been busy with some stuff. We're working on getting bail money for them right now. The judicial system is really fucking us over. The bail is extreme but we're talking to Oswald about it. Tara and I don't want you to worry."

I felt the first tears run down my face and I brushed them away quickly. I demanded, "How long are they looking at?"

"Two to fifteen years. Gun possession and there was an incident with a church full of people that they assumed was a gathering of ex-cons. The least they'll be in county is two weeks because we have to gather the bail. We're doing our best, honey."

"Have you been able to talk to them?"

"I was able to talk to Clay. Juice said he doesn't want to call until you're prepared for it. He said he doesn't want to spring it on you that he's sitting in a jail cell."

"When Clay or Jax call, will you get him to call me?"

"Of course. You're handling this well, Laura."

"What other choice do I have, Gemma? I knew who Juice was and what the dangers were before I got with him. Him being in jail doesn't change the fact that I love him. Doesn't make me love him any less. I know what my duties are. Let me know if you need anything."

"We will, sweetheart. Don't let yourself get too stressed out. Our boys will get out of this. They always do. You just go on like nothing happened and your Juicy boy will call you in a day or two to let you know that he's doing just fine and to tell you how much he's missing you," Gemma soothed me.

"Alright. Thanks, Gemma. I'll probably call you tomorrow."

"Okay, honey. Bye."

"Bye, Gemma."

I hung up and inhaled shakily. I gave myself a minute to calm down and then walked to the study so I could meet up with Kevin. He was waiting for me, reading his book calmly. I took a deep breath and sat down beside him with a fake smile painted on my face.


	6. Chapter 6

**Juice**

"Hey, baby," I murmured into the phone. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay. How are you? What's going on in there? I've been talking to Gemma about you guys getting out."

"I know. I'm okay. Things are kind of hard in here right now. We're trying to get protection from Laroy's boys on the inside. Other than that we're just avoiding the AB. Let's not talk about that though. I'm so sorry, Laura."

She paused on the other end of the phone and took a deep, shaky breath. "You don't have to apologize, Juan Carlos Ortiz. I knew what came with this life when I started dating you. I'm not going to leave you just because of a little jail sentence."

"Baby, it might not be little."

"Doesn't matter. If that happens, we'll be like Otto and Luann. I'll be waiting forever for you."

"Laura, I can't ask you for that."

"Yes, you can. I will always be here for you, Juice. No matter what," she promised. A tear escaped from my eye.

"Baby, I can't make you promise me that. You don't have to stay with me forever. I can't hold you back."

"It's not holding me back, Juice. In fact, I'll start looking for stuff for our house. Then, when you call I'll tell you all about it. I'll describe it so well that you'll think you're seeing it for yourself. And, if you're still in when I'm on Spring Break, I'll come see you in prison and you can brag about how committed your old lady is."

I grinned. She was so passionate about it all. I informed her, "I'll be bragging about how hot my old lady is and how much of a wildcat in bed she is."

She laughed and ordered, "And, of course, you'll be writing me because anything you can't say over the phone can nice and neatly be written in our own little language in a letter."

"And you can write me naughty little things that I know you won't say over the phone and that I won't reply to over the phone because I have more respect for my girl than that."

She giggled again and I heard her sniffle. She'd been silently crying the whole time I was talking to her and the knowledge of that killed me. I murmured, "You know, I should have never dragged you into this lifestyle, Laura. I should have never pulled you into this."

"No, Juan Carlos Ortiz," she snapped. "Don't say that. You didn't drag me into anything. I knew what I was agreeing to when I let you take me out on a date. I knew perfectly well what I was doing and I was okay with it. Just like I'm okay with it now. I still love you. I will always love you. I love my life."

"You're too good for me, Laura Moon. You're way too good for me."

"No. I'm just good enough for you. We're perfect for each other. You're my big bad biker boy and I'm your smart, sexy sweetheart."

I chuckled. I only had five more minutes on the phone. I sighed, "I'll talk to you next week, baby. We're talking to Laroy's boy tomorrow about getting protection. Hopefully, the next time I call you, it'll be to tell you that we have full protection and that we're getting out soon."

"I love you, Juan Carlos Ortiz."

"I love you too, Laura Moon Mase, will be Ortiz."

I hated the soft click sound the phone made as she hung up on the other end of the line.

**Laura**

I was having trouble focusing in class. I just felt sick to my stomach. I knew something bad was going to happen but I didn't know what. I'd messed up the molar conversion for the potassium chloride three times and I could tell my lab partner was getting aggravated but I couldn't care enough to apologize to her. Molar conversions were easy. I never had trouble with molar conversions. I was fidgety and anxious. I'd talked to Gemma the day before and she told me that they were going to be able to post bail. But I couldn't help but feel sick.

"We'll finish this formula tomorrow," my professor announced to the class. I began gathering my things up quickly, shoving them into my bag and yanking my jacket on quickly. It was frigid for February. It made me miss California weather. I never would have needed a thick coat in Cali. The longer I was in Kentucky, the more homesick I was becoming. I knew it, Kate knew it, Beck and Kevin knew it too.

I missed SAMCRO. I missed riding on the back of a bike with the wind whipping around me and my arms wrapped tight around Juice. I missed the smell of worn leather, barely there cologne, and musky grease. I missed being chased around the clubhouse with Juice right on my heels, screeching as his arms closed around my waist and he yanked me up in the air. I missed dinners with Gemma, cooking in the stuffy kitchen and serving my guy beer in between kisses. I missed Opie, Ellie, and Kenny. I loved the college experience. I just didn't know if I loved it more than I loved my home and my place in the club.

I was on the sidewalk on the way to my dorm, glad I didn't have work, when Kate dropped into place beside me. She said cheerily, "You've got that look again."

"What look, Kate?" I sighed.

"The look you get when you're thinking about leaving this place far behind and just going home," she said matter-of-factly.

"That's a look, huh?"

"Yep. What's going on?"

"Just having a weird day," I answered. It had gotten a lot easier to put up with Kate. She'd been so excited when she saw my wedding ring and demanded that she be allowed to be involved in the wedding. I promised her that she could be.

"Does it have anything to do with Juice being in jail?"

I rolled my eyes. I hadn't told Kate for a reason. I just couldn't bring myself to tell her and have her ask a billion questions about the club. But Kate found everything out, whether I told her or not. Her research skills rivaled that of the best private investigator. I questioned, "Are you going to tell me how you found out?"

"Any arrests are available on the internet due to the public having access to all federal information. Hypothetically, of course," she listed off easily.

"Yes. My mood does have to do with Juice being in jail. But I'm also feeling really homesick today."

"Do you think you're going to return next semester?" She sounded worried.

"I don't know right now. I want to. I'm hoping to. It just depends on what's going on. If Juice is still in jail, I'll probably come back next semester. There will be no use going back home if he's in jail. If he's not in jail, I don't know. It'll depend on how I'm feeling around that time."

"Oh. Why do you miss it so much? I understand missing Juice but the rest of it seems like something you wouldn't really miss. They're bikers who randomly sleep with women, party, and go to jail."

"No, they are not just any of that. They're my family."

"Well don't you have a real family?"

"That's not really a question for right now, Kate. It's a long story that I don't have time for at the moment."

"Well we should have story telling time tonight. You and me and Beck and Kevin. We can all meet up in your room and talk about our lives. It can be how we bond. It'll be awesome!"

I rolled my eyes but agreed, "Alright, we can do it."

"And we can order Chinese?" she added excitedly.

"Yeah, we can order Chinese," I agreed.

****A/N A very Laura-centric chapter will be coming up next. And how she'll react to him being stabbed will be soon.** **


	7. Chapter 7

**Laura**

Later that night, I found myself sitting on my bed, staring across the room staring at Beck, Kevin, and Kate. Kate had apparently informed them only that, "Laura's going to tell us about her life and I bet it's a story that you absolutely have to know!"

"So what do you want to know?" I asked cautiously.

"Everything," she replied. I sighed. She was way too excited about hearing about my life. Of course, she thought I was going to tell her a lot of really cool things about the Sons of Anarchy.

"Well, I'm half Native American. I was actually born in Montana. I don't know what tribe or where from. My mom and dad knew each other for four months and he gave her a baby before he just disappeared. She knew his name was Daniel Mase so she gave me his last name and gave me an Indian sounding middle name. Her parents pretty much disowned her for getting pregnant by "a dark skinned devil." She was only nineteen and she was working as a waitress. When I was three months old, she decided that there was nothing left for us in Montana and she wanted somewhere warm and small. So we moved to Charming, California.

"Mom got a job working in a tiny diner right off the highway and got to work raising me. I wish I could say that she was this determined, strong single mother who would do anything for her daughter and wished she had more time to spend with me. This wasn't true though. Mom wished that she didn't have me. She worked as little as she could and we lived paycheck to paycheck in a tiny apartment just above the laundry mat. When we couldn't pay our electricity bill, we stayed warm from the heat from the dryers below.

"Mom wasn't tough on me or strict because she didn't care. She never saw a single one of my report cards, she never went to a single PTA meeting, or attended any of my events. She just didn't care. She got up in the morning after I went to school, left me a list of chores, went to work, and I never knew where she went after that. She always came in later than me. I pretty much grew up in solitude.

"I got a job at the town's gas station when I was fifteen and I worked there for a year to save up enough money to buy my car. I'd known my whole life about the Sons of Anarchy. They were the motorcycle club that kept Charming's streets clean and made sure other motorcycle gangs stayed out. They didn't let drugs or prostitution into Charming and Charming tolerated them. It was a symbiotic relationship. So I wasn't afraid when I went to the Teller-Morrow garage where the motorcycle club was housed out of. I went to buy a car for cheap. I ended up meeting Juice."

I smiled as I told them about Juice cheekily walking up to me and grabbing my ass. I told them about him coming to the apartment after school the next day and knocking on my door until I answered. I told them about Gemma bringing me into her house for family dinners and Half Sack teaching me how to box. About Tig teaching me how to use a gun and Clay trying to teach me how to smoke a cigar. Bobby teaching me how to cook and Chibs teaching me about the true IRA. I didn't have happy memories with my mother. I barely had any memories with her. I had happy memories with the club. I had memories of Christmases and birthdays. Then, my mom found out when Juice and I were together for a year.

"She lost it on me. I came home one day to find her sitting at the kitchen table. Of course, I came home at eight o'clock when school let out at three, so I already had one strike against me. And then there was the fact that my car was sitting in the driveway and I'd pulled up on Juice's Dyna. The first thing she said to me was, 'Marilyn from the diner told me that you're dating a biker.' It was my first ever screaming match with my mom. I told her that there was no way I was ever going to stop seeing Juice and she told me that as long as I lived under her roof, I would abide by her rules. I started staying at the clubhouse more often and eventually, I just moved out. She doesn't even know where I'm going to college at. We completely stopped talking after the fight."

"Wow, so the club really is better for you," Kate commented.

"Yep. Do you guys want to tell me about your lives?"

"Nope. We want to eat Chinese food."

I shrugged and we went back to eating our food.

**Juice**

"You got to be fucking kidding me! I don't want to take a dick in the ass!" I groaned.

"Don't worry so much about it!" Hap scolded. I sighed. First Tig cracked my rib so that I would have to be put in the infirmary and now I was going to have to face Dion on my own. I did not want to take a dick up my ass. "It's like Clay said, there's a fifty/fifty chance you won't have to take a dick up your ass. Chances are, Laroy's boys will get there to save you."

"And if they don't?"

"Do what you have to for the club," Hap ordered.

"Would you?" I demanded.

He turned to face me and stared me directly in the eyes. I looked away. I didn't need to know what Happy had done for the club. I just nodded in agreement and Happy left. I waited for Dion to arrive and prayed that I wouldn't get ass fucked. I didn't even like talking to Laura about furthering our experimentation. Once, during sex, she'd reached back and her fingers had slipped a little far and it felt **okay** but it wasn't something I was really into. I much preferred her fingers digging into my ass cheeks as I thrust into her. Or her heels beating a rhythm against the backs of my thighs as her voice sounded in my ear, begging me to go faster or harder. The thought of it gave me half a hard on and I cursed that as Dion wandered into the infirmary.

He was quite the black specimen and he was not afraid to admit that he liked guys. He went straight for my dick. I'd never met a guy in county who wanted to touch your dick while he wanted to deliver his own. Unfortunately for me, he felt the half of a chubby that I got while I was thinking about Laura. Luckily, his big rough hand made it go away really quickly. I was just praying that Laroy's boys got there quick. God must have heard me because Laroy's boys arrived and kicked the shit out of Dion before he could get anything anywhere near the inside of me.

I was walking out to the yard, feeling like king of the world. Happy, Tig, Jax, and Clay were standing off to the side, studying me. They were probably making some jokes about me being a faggot and smiling because I took it from a big black daddy. But I didn't care. I did my job for the club. I did well and nobody could say that I didn't. I did my part for the brotherhood. I was on top of the world, until I felt the hand grab my shoulder. I only had a second to register what was going on until I felt the sharp point of a shank sliding into my side, too close to my kidneys for comfort.

It felt like fire was exploding just under my rib cage. It was the sharp, inescapable pain of a well sharpened, shitty instrument. A million things ran through my mind. It started with wondering how the fuck my assailant managed to get a weapon so sharp and ended with me thinking of how freaked out Laura would be when she heard that I got injured. Or how freaked out she'd be if I died. It would kill her. We'd barely been engaged. I couldn't die. We still had to pay off the house. If I died, Laura would have to survive off the savings I made. The money would pay off the house until she got out of college and Clay would probably give her some cushy job in the garage so she would work as a secret nurse for the club. But she wouldn't be happy with that. And what would she do for comfort? She'd have to marry another club member. That wouldn't make her happy. Those men didn't know shit about treating a woman right. Laura would just be another old lady, getting used up and pissed off. If I died I would never get to see babies with her soft green eyes or my stupid ass grin. I couldn't die.

Off in the distance, I heard Clay shouting for the guards and I felt Jax grasping at my hand as my body bowed. Somebody yanked the makeshift weapon out of my side and threw it to the side. I screamed again. The blood running down my side warmed my body and I turned my head to look at it. It was pouring over the ground. All of it couldn't be mine. It was way too much blood to occupy any one man's body. I looked up at Jax to find that he had gone pale. Then, the guards grabbed me and carried me away. I found the strength in me to yell, "Don't you dare tell Laura! Don't tell her until I'm either dead or you know for certain I'm going to be okay! Don't make her worry over me!"

That was the last thing I remembered. After that, it was only darkness until I woke up in the white, sterile hospital room. My vital organs had been spared but the prison hospital wasn't able to hold me so I'd been moved to a heavily guarded hospital near the prison. I didn't care. I was still alive. I would be able to see beautiful little Ortiz babies running around mine and Laura's big front yard. I smiled before I slipped back into the dark lull of unconsciousness.


	8. Chapter 8

**Laura**

"Opie, it's three a.m. here," I sighed. "And I have eight a.m. class tomorrow. This better be an emergency."

"Well, I figured you'd want to know that Gemma was able to convince Oswald to post bail," he said nonchalantly on the other end of the phone.

I sat straight up in bed and exclaimed, "They're all out! They're free men!"

"Well, technically, yes," he said slowly. Across the room, Kate snorted in her sleep. She'd been basically living with me for a week while we plotted a way for her to get Beck to notice her. I didn't understand why she had to move in with me for us to plot but I let her because, despite all odds, I liked the annoying girl.

"What do you mean, 'technically yes'?" I demanded. "Are they out or not?"

"Well, yes. They are all out of lock up. None of them are currently residing in county jail."

"Well, if they're not residing in county jail, where are they residing?"

"Well,….you remember how Chibs was in the hospital?"

"Yes, he was in the explosion and got hit in the back of the head." I was beginning to get annoyed. It wasn't like Opie to dance around giving me an answer.

"Juice is currently residing in the same facility," Opie said quickly. "And has been for about a week now."

"He has been in the hospital for a week and nobody told me!" I hissed. "Have you all lost your mother fucking minds? Why didn't he call me?"

"He's been in a medically induced coma because he was stabbed in the side with a prison shank. But, it missed all his vital organs and he's fine. He'll be awake in a day or two and we'll make sure he'll call you then."

"Why hasn't anybody called me?" I growled.

"We haven't been able to," he swore. "Shit's been crazy down here, Moon. Jax and Clay are at each other's throats all the time, Gemma's going nuts, Half Sack's getting a new nut, the League and the ATF are up our asses all the time, and Mary just left me with the kids. Plus I'm kind of seeing one of Luann's girls now. Do you remember Lyla? You were always nice to Lyla. You liked her. But yeah, shit's been crazy. We just haven't had time and Juice told us not to call you unless we were certain of one of two things. That he was going to be okay or that he was going to die. He didn't want us to worry you."

"Harry Opie Winston, you better start at the beginning with the Lyla thing and you better be damn sure to tell me how Kenny and Ellie are doing," I said through gritted teeth. "It's already February and I only have a month until Spring break. When I get home, I am going to plant my boot in so many asses."

"I'll pass on the message that we'll need to line up," he promised. "Now do you want to hear about everything or not?"

"Lay it on me, Ope."

**Juice**

The first phone call I made when I woke up was to Laura. She sounded exhausted when she answered the phone. She answered with, "Laura Mase, who am I speaking to?"

"Well, you're currently speaking to a battle worn prison victim who is aching to hear the beautiful sound of his fiancé's voice," I purred.

"Juice! Is this you? I am so mad at you but I can't even care because it's you!"

"Hey, baby. Why are you mad at me?" I pouted a little.

"You told them not to tell me what was going on until they were sure you were going to die or survive! I hadn't heard from you in a week but I wasn't allowing myself to be worried because I told myself that the club would tell me if I needed to know. Come to find out, you told the club not to tell me! I'm your fiancé! I should be the first person to know in these situations."

"Well, baby, to be fair," I began my argument, "Tig, Hap, Clay, Jax, and Bobby were there when I got stabbed so, no matter what, they were going to be the first to know. There was nothing I could do about that."

She growled low in her throat and I explained, "Baby, for a minute, I was certain I was going to die. All I could think about was never getting to marry you. Never getting to watch your belly swell up with our baby or get to see our kids running around the front yard. I thought about how devastated you'd be. About how you'd probably end up with some other biker and it hurt so bad to think about all that. In a split second, I decided that I didn't want you to have to think about all that. I wanted you to know for absolutely sure. I think wondering would have been way worse, baby, and I couldn't do that to you. I love you too much."

I paused, wondering if she believed me and, when I heard her slight sniffle on the other end of the phone, I knew that she had. She replied, "Juice, I am so close to coming home. Half the time, I don't want to be here. I feel like I need to be closer to the club and closer to you."

I froze. In September, this would have been the best possible news. But it wasn't September anymore and it wasn't safe to Laura to be home. With the ATF and the League and the Mayans, my girl would never be able to do anything outside of the clubhouse. She'd be trapped all the time. She'd fucking hate it and she'd fucking hate me for trapping her there.

"No, baby," I said quickly. "You can't do that. I love you so much, but you can't come home right now. It's not safe here and I don't want you in the middle of it. Stay gone, Laura. Please stay there."

"But, I miss it all so much. I miss Gemma and Jax and Clay and Tig and Chibs. I even miss the prospect and Bobby! Every time I talk to Opie it makes me miss it more and more and I feel like a part of myself is missing."

"No, Laura. It's not missing. Please, stay there. You'll be back soon for Spring break. At least finish out this semester. Then, you'll have all summer to decide if you want to stay or not. If you decide you don't want to go back, the offer still stands for you to do community college and I'll still pay for it. But give it time. Don't make the decision yet."

"Okay," she agreed. "I promise."

"Good. Now how often do you talk to Opie?"

She giggled and asked, "Are you going to make a big deal out of me saying once or twice a week? Sometimes only every other week."

"You talk to him an awful lot, Laura. I'm not worried or anything, I'm just saying that other people might get the wrong idea about you and him."

"Juice, he's dating a porn star. Nobody is getting the wrong idea about me and Opie."

"Well, you're better than a porn star."

We talked for two hours after that.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey, Opie, is this important? I'm kind of in the middle of something," I hissed into the phone. My irate professor stared at me, her face contorted into one of irritation.

"Yeah, it is. God, I wish Juice could call and tell you about this. Umm…you know Luann, right?" He stuttered.

"Duh, I know Luann. Hurry up and spit it out, Opie," I growled while I stared apologetically at my professor. She tapped her foot incessantly and I cursed myself for not turning my damn phone off.

"She's dead, Moon. Beaten to death over Caracara business. We found out yesterday. I just now thought about calling you. This is all I can tell you over this line. If you want to come home, let me know now and we'll get you a plane ticket."

"I….yes...please…" My voice wavered and the professor's face fell from irritation to skepticism. I rose from my desk as Opie informed me, "We'll email it to you in about an hour. Love you, Moon. See you soon."

He hung up and she asked me, "Ms. Mace, is everything okay?"

"Luann's dead," I said blankly, as if she would know what that meant. I hadn't known Luann that well. She was the older woman that all the guys talked about being a super porn star. She was the woman at family dinners who would tease me about coming to work behind her cameras because she needed some "tanner flesh than my little white girls." She was Otto's old lady, who I'd never met but I'd seen pictures and heard stories about. She was the one Juice told me to watch out for because she might laugh but she really wouldn't say no to me being in one of her films. She was all of that but, more than anything, she was the second old lady who had died within a year.

"Do you need to leave?" she asked me. "Are you going home?"

"I need to go pack. I will have a plane ticket within the hour. Please e-mail me my work and I will send you completed copies of everything. I'm sorry to interrupt your class. I need to go."

I gathered my things and left quickly, leaving a class staring after me in awe. I was the girl on campus who could get a plane ticket within an hour. I was the girl who always had just enough money to get by and a rock on her finger. I was the girl who rode in on the back of a Harley with a tattooed boyfriend. I was the center for gossip and it was driving me insane.

Seven hours later, I was on a plane back home. I knew that when I got out of the cab at the garage, Juice wouldn't be waiting for me. I knew that the week long, unplanned vacation and then the week of spring break I would be back for wouldn't be about fun or seeing people. It would be about being with my family. That knowledge followed me when, at nine o'clock that night, I got out of the cab and stumbled into the clubhouse with two suitcases on my own, only to see the prospect asleep on the couch. There was no welcoming party. No greetings. Just me and an empty room.

**Juice**

I slammed the remote against the metal handrail of the hospital bed, hoping that it would make the fucking thing work. Some nurse changed the station in my room every time I went to sleep and I would wake up with it on some bullshit soap opera channel. It was just some lazy bitch finding something to do instead of working. I was interrupted from my electronic abuse by a soft voice at the door, "You know that's not going to work, right?"

I looked up to see the one person I'd dreamed about for weeks. Laura was standing in the doorway with her long black hair braided down her back and a curve hugging black dress. She could have been wearing a potato sack and I would have found her beautiful. She was leaning against the doorframe. She greeted, "Hey there, my little felon."

I patted the bed next to me and ordered, "Come here, my beautiful girl. Come make my dream of getting some in a hospital bed a fantastic reality."

"Juice, we are not having sex on a hospital bed," she laughed.

"But, baby, I'm getting out within the next couple days. Don't you want to make me happy?"

"I'll make you happy once you're back in the dorm room, in our bed."

I grinned and motioned her over. She sat down next to me and curled into my side. I informed her, "I don't want you staying in the dorm rooms when you're in town. I know we don't have all the furniture for the house, but I think we should buy some for now and start staying in the house."

Her face lit up and she exclaimed, "The house? Our house?"

"Yeah, I mean, I'll only stay in it when you're home but it will still be cool to get us a bed and a kitchen table and some plates and stuff. I'll give you my card and you can start going shopping. Just send me pictures of the stuff you want to buy and I'll tell you yes or no," I ordered.

She shrieked with laughter and threw her arms around my neck. She hugged me as tight as possible and I winced but didn't let her show it. I was a biker. I'd killed men. I didn't wince when my fiancé hugged me a little too tight. She murmured, "Thank you so much. You make me the happiest girl in the whole wide world. As soon as you get out of this hospital bed I am going to make you see stars."

Even with an IV in my arm and a heart rate monitor keeping track of my heart, I could feel my dick tingle as soon as she whispered it. I replied, "Baby, you could do that right now."

My heart rate sped up dangerously as she began kissing my neck and slowly working her way down my body. A nurse picked that moment to walk into the room and question, "Mr. Ortiz, are you alright? Your heart rate is….oh…."

Laura sat up with a shriek and fell down off the bed with a squeak. I sat up quickly to reach for her and pulled at the machine that kept the IV in my arm. I grunted in pain and the nurse turned red. Laura stammered, "I am so so sorry. I didn't mean to make his heart race. We'll keep him nice and calm now."

"Right, as long as you do that." The nurse said embarrassedly.

She left and I started laughing. Laura glared up at me from the floor. It only made me laugh harder. I commanded, "Get back up here with me and let me hold you."

She climbed back into bed with me and curled up with her head on my chest. I ran my fingers through her hair and asked, "Did you go to the funeral?"

"Yeah."

"How are you feeling?"

"I just can't believe that two old ladies died in one year. It's scary, Juice. SAMCRO has always protected the ones they love," she said quietly.

I reached down and tilted her face up to look at me. I promised, "Baby, no matter what happens, I will always protect you. I love you."

"I love you too."

I rubbed her back and slowly, she fell asleep in my arms. A nurse came in at eight thirty that night and made her leave my side but she kissed me and promised to return the next day after doing some shopping.

**Laura**

"This is a really big bed. Are you sure you and Juice need a bed this big?" Lyla asked. Opie had asked me to take her shopping with me so that we could get to know each other better and to take her mind off the fact that her boss had just died.

"Trust me, we do. He sprawls out when he sleeps alone so he's always half off his dorm bed. And when we're together, we're all over the bed while we're awake. Plus when we have kids, it'll give room for them to sleep in the same bed as us," I explained to her.

"That's a good idea. When I had Piper it was just me and him and we didn't really need a big bed."

I nodded. The bed I was staring at had a large, oak frame and a sweeping canopy with red, transparent curtains. The bedroom was going to be done in red and black and we already had the red and black bedset. I snapped a picture and sent it to Juice. I received a text a few moments later with the reply, "Perfect."

"So what else do you need?" Lyla asked as I flagged over a sale's associate.

"Dishes, a kitchen table, towels, and a couch."

"Oh. Juice trusts you a lot with his money."

"Yeah, we've been together almost three years now. Without the trust, we would have fallen apart a long time ago. It's the trust that makes it easy to be across country."

"That's cool."

I gave orders to the sale's associate and then turned to walk towards the kitchen tables. Lyla and I were silent for a long moment before I asked, "So, can I ask you about your job without you getting offended?"

"Maybe. It depends on how you ask the question," she replied cautiously.

"Don't worry. I don't care that you're a porn star. I know Tara and Gemma hate it but I honestly don't think it's any of their business. That's your career and your choice. It doesn't make you a bad person. I was going to ask if Opie has a problem with it."

"He acts like he doesn't but he really does. It's like he's actively trying not to bring it up to me, but at the same time he hates it. We're not serious right now though. I mean, we just kissed the other day."

"Trust me, you're serious. If Opie has let you in, you're serious."

"You seem to know him pretty well." I instantly picked up on the hint of suspicion in her voice and it made me want to laugh. A porn star felt threatened by me! I made a mental note to tell Juice about it. She had men across the country drooling over her. I had one biker who wanted me.

"Yeah. We got close after Donna's death. She was my best friend."

"Oh." She seemed disappointed by the news.

"But I'm happy for Ope. He deserves a girl who wants to be with him. Just because she was my best friend doesn't mean I'm going to hate you for being with him. I'm actually really happy for him, and you. And Kenny and Ellie. They need a woman in their life right now."

"I'm glad you think so. Piper really needs a father figure. He never knew his and, Ope is kind of messed up sometimes, but he's a really great dad."

"I think so too," I agreed. "What do you think of this table? I want the kitchen to be light and sunny. Like reds and greens."

I pointed to a six seater table with light wood and tall chairs with red seats.

"Juice is okay with that? He doesn't want some sleek bachelor pad feel?"

"Nope. He likes what I like."

"How did you get him like that?" she joked. "And where can I learn?"

"Lots of determination and slow bending to my will over the years. With a few violent fights sprinkled in."

She laughed and we finished shopping. At the end of the day, I texted Opie and gave his new girlfriend my seal of approval. Then, I went to the hospital to see Juice and back to our house to set up a few things. The more I sat in the house, staring at the place where our bed rested, the more I doubted my decision of going across country and the more I knew what I needed to do.


	10. Chapter 10

"After this semester, I don't want to go back to Berea."

"What? No, no, baby. You have to." I was panicking. Men didn't panic. Men from Queens didn't panic. But I was panicking. Two old ladies died in one year and that's when she decided not to go back to the safest college she could be at.

"I want to go to college closer to here. I'll finish out this semester and then fill out my transfer forms. I just know I don't want to be that far away from you and from my family."

She was curled into my side with her head buried in the crook of my neck. Her breath was on my collarbone and I could hear my heart rate speeding up on the monitor. I fucking hated that monitor. I didn't even need it anymore. I didn't need to be in the hospital anymore but they found blood in my stool and needed to keep me for more observations. I could feel it in my bones that more things were going to go badly. I couldn't let Laura stay around for them.

"Baby, it's not safe for you here. You have to know that. You can't stay here."

"Juice, there is nowhere else I want to be. I need to come home. I won't even really be involved in club business. I'll pack my schedule with classes and I'll get a job so you don't have to pay for my classes. I can get loans and stuff too. I promise I won't be in your hair. It'll be just like it was when I was in high school except we'll have our own place to stay and I'll support myself."

I ran my hand over my Mohawk nervously. It was bad. It was so so bad. Part of me wanted to cave right then and there. I dreamt every night of having Laura back with me every day. It would be perfection. Having her by my side every night. Picking her up from class to take her to work. Then I thought about logic. The club called me the retard but I knew best when it came to Laura. I made stupid mistakes, like giving a dog crank. But I didn't want to make mistakes when it came to being with Laura. A mistake would make me lose her and I didn't ever want to lose her.

"Baby, there is nothing I would love more than to support you. If I had my way, you would never work. You would just do your classes and focus on your school and let me take care of everything. But, Laura, Charming isn't safe like it used to be. Things around here are changing. This place is different and I can't stand the thought of you getting hurt. Of losing you. I would rather die than not have you."

"I'll get a gun. I'll have my own car. I'm not involved in the porn business. I'll convince Gemma to hire me on as an extra secretary at the garage, I'll convince Unser and Hale to make me their secretary, I'll get the safest job I can find. I just can't stay in Kentucky for the next three years. I have to be here, with you." Her voice was becoming frantic.

"Baby, I'm facing gun charges. Fifteen years of hard time ahead of me. If you come back to Charming, I won't be here." It was the first time either of us had spoken about the prison time I had facing me. She'd asked me what happened and I told her, but we hadn't talked about the future. I held my breath, waiting to hear what she would have to say.

"Then, I'll need to be here in Charming anyway so I can visit the prison as much as possible. I mean, it's not ideal, but it will work. Of course, we'll have to get pregnant before you go in because I can't have a baby when I'm 33. I know it will suck with you not being here for the pregnancy and it'll probably be hard but I know the club will help me out while you're on the inside. They always helped Donna. Everything will be alright."

I hugged her to me tighter. The determination in her voice was breaking my resolve. It shouldn't have been. It'd been almost three years. I shouldn't have caved so easily. But there I was, on the edge of agreeing. She buried her face deeper into my neck and repeated, "Everything will be alright."

I nodded. She said stubbornly, "In May, when I come home, it'll be for good. So I need to apply to the local community college and start filling out scholarships so I can come home."

"You're coming home."

"Yeah. So we really need to fill the house."

There was a banging at the door and I grabbed the Ruger I kept under my pillow. I would have preferred a Beretta but Gemma gave Tara my old one and Tig was still working on rounding one up for me. I slid out of bed as quietly as I could and crept towards the front of my house, grabbing my cell phone and dialing Opie's number quickly as I walked. I pressed the cell to my ear and was surprised to hear a ringing coming from outside the house.

"Moon, it's me. Do you mind opening the damn door?" Ope's voice growled through the phone.

I rushed to the door and threw it open. Opie took in the sight of me with my cell phone in one hand, the gun in the other, and my ruffled pajamas that consisted of a pair of boy shorts underwear and Juice's club shirt. He demanded, "What the hell are you thinking answering the door like that? You're pretty much a fucking target for a rapist. What if somebody had forced me to get you to the door? What then? You would have been fucking defenseless!"

"I have a gun, Ope," I pointed out.

"A Ruger that I bet you haven't even test fired," he snarled.

"I highly doubt anybody could force you to do anything. You're the size of a mountain and you're stubborn as an ox. Plus you'd die before anything happened to me."

"Well, yeah, but still. You have to be more prepared. Especially if you're going to move back here. No more wandering around in underwear."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you want to come in or not?"

He nodded and I stepped aside to let him in. It had been three days since I informed Juice I was returning home after the semester and we'd only managed to buy an armchair for the living room since then. I led him to the kitchen and he sat down at the table. While I readied coffee and food, he swiped a massive hand down his exhausted face. I sat a plate of spaghetti and a mug of coffee down in front of him moments later.

"Thanks," he grunted. "Juice said you've been taking him food since you've been home. Said hospital food sucks ass and he can't wait to be back."

"Well, I should feed him as much as possible before I go back to college and he goes to prison." Opie stared up at me, surprised I was so casual about it.

"I know what's going on with him, Ope. I'm not stupid. But I can wait for him. Luann waited for Otto forever. I can wait fifteen years."

"He's got a good girl with you, Moon. Plus this spaghetti is fucking amazing. You gotta teach Lyla how to cook."

"We'll work on it," I promised. "So what brings you here in the middle of the night? Beating my door down?"

"We found out this morning that the porn studio burnt down and I've been trying to get hold of you all day. When I talked to Juice earlier he said he hadn't heard from you and I've been looking for you for hours. You weren't answering your phone."

"I went shopping in the city. Phone died and I've been home since then. I took Juice dinner around seven. He was in a little bit of pain though so they'd doped him out of his mind by then."

"Oh. I didn't come here."

"So who burnt down the porn studio?" I rolled my eyes.

"Don't know. Jax thinks Clay did it because Clay wanted him to shut down the business. They're at each other's throats all the time now. Gonna kill the club if they don't get their shit straight."

"That sucks. Do you think Clay did it?"

"No. Not his style. He would need help with something like that and I know Tig and Hap didn't help him. Jax is thinking about going Nomad now."

I could feel my eyes widen. "Pretty big decision to make in one day."

"I know. He's just not getting along with Clay and they hate each other most days. Thinks it would be best for the club if he left for a little while."

"Do you think your dad will vote him out? I mean, it's a pretty big deal. And I know Juice will have a hard time with it. He sees the charter as a family. He can't imagine ever leaving it."

"Jax will beg and Juice will let him go. It's how it works, Moon. SAMCRO is going to fall apart without something really big to hold it together."

I nodded and we sat there in silence for a few moments. He broke the silence by asking, "You want a cigarette?"

I shook my head and laughed, "Go home, Ope. Go home to your kids and to Lyla. She's a good girl and she'll be worried. And if you come home smelling like some girl's house, it's only going to be worse for you."

"She's a porn star, Moon. I don't think she cares much about who I sleep with."

"She's a girl, Ope. And, no matter what her career is, she'll always care about whose bed you're sharing. Now go home. Go home so I can go back to bed and go visit my fiancé in the morning."

"You know, most girls would try to sleep with me."

"I'm not most girls. Go home, Opie," I ordered.

"Got it. Don't answer the door without pants on anymore."

"Okay."

"I just don't get it, baby," I murmured. "I don't understand how anyone could ever want to leave the club."

"He's not leaving the club, honey. He's just going Nomad for a while."

"Same thing."

"Hap did it and now he's back all the time."

"Yeah, well, Happy's a psycho." I growled.

We were curled up in my hospital bed again. She'd brought me hamburgers for lunch. She suggested, "Maybe it's good, baby. Ope seems to think that with Clay and Jax at each other's throats all the time, it could be good for the club."

"They're family, Laura. And family shouldn't leave. John Teller died when he went nomad."

She nodded quietly and wriggled deeper into my side. After a few moments, she asked, "Do you think Clay had anything to do with Caracara burning down?"

"No, baby, Clay would never do something like that. I mean, it'd be disrespectful to Jax and to Luann's memory. Caracara was the last thing she had. It's not like he would do that to Otto or to Jax. Clay's not a bad guy."

"You're right," she sighed. I ran my fingers through her hair.

"I only have one more week left of Spring Break, baby."

"I know. I get released tomorrow. Then we'll be home, in our bed. And we can finally celebrate that I'm alive."

She laughed and snuggled into my side. When the night nurse came in later, Laura was fast asleep with her head on my chest. I whispered, "Let her stay. I get out tomorrow. It won't hurt anything."

She shrugged and backed out quickly. I smiled down at my girl. Even when things were falling to shit, I could count on her to be by my side. On the bedside table, my prepaid rang and I reached over for it as gently as possible so I wouldn't wake her up.

"Go ahead," I said quietly.

"Juice, as soon as you get out tomorrow, you need to be at the clubhouse. No excuses," Jax's voice ordered from the other end.

"Well, I was going to go back to the house with Laura for a few…."

"No," he stated coldly. "No excuses. Gemma was fucking raped. By Weston's men. You need to be at the clubhouse. I don't care what you have to do. Be there. Period."

"Gemma was…."

"Yeah."

"Tell her Laura and I are sorry and if she needs anything…."

"Okay, brother," Jax cut me off. "Just be here as soon as you can tomorrow."


	11. Chapter 11

Juice and I walked into the clubhouse, hand in hand. He'd told me about Gemma when I woke up in the morning and I went to the house to get some clothes while he filled out his release papers. He warned me to bring a duffel bag because we'd probably end up staying in the dorm room for a couple nights. In the clubhouse, Half Sack and Piney were sitting at the bar. Half Sack was depressed because his testicle transplant hadn't worked out. His body rejected the nut.

"I baked cookies and brownies," I announced to nobody in particular.

"Thanks, Moon. Sit them on the counter and I'm sure everybody will get to them," Piney said gently. I nodded and headed back to the dorm room to put the duffel bags away while Juice got caught up on what had been going on. I was pulling out the containers of baked goods when I heard the shout from outside. It was Opie and he sounded pissed. I took off running, past Juice and Half Sack, who seemed frozen in place. I passed Piney, who was moving as fast as he could with his oxygen tank. I made it outside in seconds, just to see Tig slammed against the truck with Opie screaming about Donna. Piney caught up to me and stood by my side, staring at the scene before him with no emotion.

"Piney, what's going on?" I asked.

"My boy just found out who really killed his wife."

"Tig…Tig killed Donna…?" I stammered. I felt my stomach rush up into my throat and I stumbled to the side to throw up as Juice rushed over and wrapped his arms around me.

"Baby, what's going on?" he questioned frantically.

"Tig…Tig killed….Tig killed Donna," I sobbed. I turned into his arms and buried my face in his chest as Opie took off on his motorcycle, leaving the club staring after him. I looked over at Tig as his eyes met mine and a new wave of sobs took over me. A club member killed an innocent old lady. Donna never did anything to hurt anybody. She wasn't a threat to the club. She wasn't the **best **old lady but none of us were. Only Gemma was perfect.

"Moon, I thought it was Opie," Tig stuttered. "You have to understand. It was supposed to be Opie. Stahl painted him as a rat. It was supposed to be…."

"Don't talk to me!" I screamed. "You killed her! You fucking killed her! Don't talk to me!"

"Moon, you have to…"

"Shut up, Tig," Juice said solemnly. "I get why you did it, but it doesn't matter. Just shut up right now."

He leaned down and lifted me up, cradling me to his chest. He took me into the couch and rested my head in his lap. He smoothed my hair down while I sobbed into his legs for my lost friend. I never got to make up with her. She'd never get to be my maid of honor or be Aunt Donna to my kids. I lost my best friend because my boyfriend was in a club. Then, I lost her forever because the President of the club decided her old man was a rat. They never even really got Opie's side of the story. They just believed some fucking ATF bitch about all of it. They should have known what she was doing. They should have known Opie would never rat. I cried harder and Juice ran his fingers through my hair soothingly. I knew he was glaring at the door, daring Tig to come into the clubhouse to try to talk to me. Finally, I fell asleep.

I was woken a few hours later by a large, rough hand on my head. The guys had church at that time. I opened my eyes to see Piney towering over me. He didn't have his cut on or his oxygen in. He was just standing there calmly.

"It's not good for you to sleep on the couch, Moon. You'll hurt your back. You should go to your room," he said softly.

"I'm just waiting for Juice to come out," I slurred. I was still so tired. "We might get to go home tonight."

"Maybe, sweetheart. Just head onto your room and I'll tell Juice where you are. I have to go into church anyway."

"Okay." Piney helped me up and I wrapped my arms around him tightly for a minute. He smiled at me and kissed my cheek and I turned to go. I turned back and asked, "Where's your cut, Piney?"

"Just not on me right now, sweetheart. Gotta do something and I can't be wearing it."

"Oh, okay." I stumbled to the bedroom and lay on the bed. My eyes had just fluttered closed when I heard the first gunshot and I screamed. I screeched, "Juice! Juice!" as I raced from the room. I rushed into the clubhouse to find Clay standing outside of the church room with Tig, Jax, and Juice. I ran into Juice's arms and demand, "What's going on? What was that?"

"Why did you run towards gun shots? Why in the fuck was that your first instinct? Why in the hell would you do that?" he scolded. "Do you think I want to lose you? What the fuck were you thinking? What would have happened if you had gotten shot?"

I repeated, "What the fuck is going on?"

"Calm down," Clay ordered gruffly. "Juice, take her to the dorm room. We don't have time for this right now."

I glared at the club president. I wanted to know what was going on and I glanced around at the other members for clues when I noticed that Piney and Opie were missing. I questioned suspiciously, "Where are Piney and Opie?"

"Juice, take her now," Jax ordered.

Juice grabbed my arm and I yanked it away. I screamed, "Where the fuck are Piney and Opie? What the fuck did you do with them you bastards? Is that what those gun shots were? Did you kill them too, Trager?"

"Get her!" Jax roared at Juice.

Juice pulled at my arm and I yanked away from him. I moved towards Tig quickly and Juice grabbed me around the waist. I continued, "No! Where are they? Somebody should know what you did with them? Somebody should know the truth!"

"Laura, they're fine. Just come on," Juice plead softly.

"I want to see them! I want to…."

I was cut off by the clicking sound of the hammer of a gun. I looked up to find Clay's revolver barrel in line with my head. The room went dead silent. I stared at him. He ordered, "I said go to the room, Laura."

"Gonna shoot me too, Clay?" I spat out. "You've got no problem killing old ladies and we both know it. Go ahead and do it."

"Moon, go with Juice," Tig said softly as he edged towards Clay. His eyes plead with me.

"Watch your mouth, Laura. You've got no business in any of this," he warned.

"Neither did Donna. That never stopped her from dying. I'm no better than her. Go ahead." I wasn't backing down. I planned to die or know what happened to Opie and Piney. I wasn't leaving the room without one of the two happening.

"Laura, please don't do this," Juice begged. "Please, just come on. Everything's okay, I promise. Please, just come on."

"Not until I know," I hissed out. I held my arms out and motioned for him to do it. For Clay to shoot me. His finger tightened on the trigger and I continued to stare.

"Act like a fucking old lady and do what you're told," Jax snarled.

"Jax, Opie is your best friend," I said slowly. "It should be you in my place and we both know it. You're abandoning your best friend."

"I'm not…."

"What in the fuck is going on out here?" Opie's voice cut through what Jax was about to say and my eyes darted to him. He was studying the interaction with his face twisted into a grimace. He demanded, "I asked what the fuck is going on? Do we really need two shootings tonight?"

"Ope, you're alright," I sighed in relief.

"Of course, I'm alright, Moon. What the fuck are you doing?" he demanded.

"What do you mean what am I doing?"

"Well the SAMCRO president doesn't put a gun in somebody's face for no damn reason," he pointed out.

"He wouldn't tell me where you were," I informed him with a huff.

"And so you did something that warranted almost getting shot?"

"I wouldn't listen."

"Where the fuck did you think I was, Moon?"

"Well, I heard gunshots and I assumed that….you know….after Donna….I was just scared." I looked down at the floor.

"Well now you know I'm safe. Do whatever it is that Clay told you to do so he can take the gun out of your face," Opie said while looking at Clay. Clay slowly lowered the gun.

"Where's your dad?" I demanded.

"He's fine too. Juice will explain it all to you later. You just have to go to your room now. Please, Moon. Go to your room." Opie's tone let me know that it wasn't a suggestion.

"Come on, Laura," Juice coaxed gently. He grabbed my arm and guided me away. I followed him dutifully, not looking back at the men. He led me into his room and shut the door behind him. Then, he turned on me with tears in his gorgeous brown eyes.

"Laura, what did you think you were doing? Clay could have killed you," he hissed. "You can't do shit like that."

"I needed to know. I needed to make sure Opie and Piney were okay. Nothing else can happen to this club, Juice. They are my family. They need to be safe."

"I'm your family, Laura!" he cried out. "I'm the one that is going to marry you! I'm the one that is going to be the father of your children!"

"And they are my family! I can't let anything happen to them! Look what happened to Donna!"

"You weren't the cause of that! Nothing you could have done would have stopped that, Laura. And now, now I'm going to lose you because you can't keep your fucking mouth shut and stay safe. Other than the club, you are the only thing I have in this world. If I lose you, I'm done, Laura. I only have this club. I can't lose you!"

"You're not going to! I just needed to check on them!"

"God damnit, Laura! Why can't you be like a normal old lady? Why can't you just listen to me when I tell you something isn't safe? Why can't you just be for me? Why in the fuck do I have to share you with Opie?"

I froze and stared at him. We were standing nose to nose, the heat of our argument had moved us closer together and he was gasping for air.

"Baby, do you really think you share me with Opie?" I asked softly.

"I do, Laura! He calls you almost as often as I do! He's been over to our house! You take care of him! It's like you've been trying to take Donna's place and, tonight, you almost did. You almost died for him, Laura. I almost lost you because you can't figure out who's your old man and who's a fucking brother."

"Oh, Juice…"

He sat down on the edge of the bed and buried his face in his hands. I sat next to him and grabbed his hand in my own. I questioned, "Baby, you know I'm only yours, right? You know that you don't really share me with anyone. I know I've been taking care of Opie lately and I'm sorry if that's been interfering with our relationship. I'm sorry I let that put me in front of a gun."

"Never do it again. I don't give you a lot of orders, Laura. I don't boss you around or make you do anything. I don't expect a lot from you. But this, this is a command. Never willingly do that again. Don't you dare put yourself in danger for anyone. I don't care if it's Jax or Opie or Piney or Gemma or me. Don't ever do that again."

"Okay, Juice."

"No, baby. Promise me," he demanded. He looked up at me and stared me deep in the eyes. "Promise me that you will never do that again. That you will never put yourself in danger for this club ever again. What happens isn't your business. If you need to know, I will tell you. Somebody will tell you."

"I promise that I will never put myself in danger for SAMCRO ever again," I swore.

He sighed in relief and leaned over to kiss me. He said softly, "I love you, Laura. I'll take care of everything and I'll let you know. But for now, I need you to stay in here. I need you to stay in here until I tell you that it's safe to come back into the clubhouse, okay? And I need you to stop giving Tig the death glare."

"Yes on the first one. No on the second."

"We'll work on it," he compromised.

I nodded and he leaned over and kissed me again. He murmured, "I won't lose you. I love you."

"I love you too."


	12. Chapter 12

"Kozik!" Laura's squeal pierced the air and I looked up to watch her race across the parking lot and into the arms of the blonde biker. I sighed in aggravation. My fiancé was more trouble than she was anything else. I'd just gotten it through her head that she was not to be Opie's new Donna and there she was, rushing to throw her arms around a different brother. I watched as he hugged her back and lifted her off her feet to spin her around. Her laughter cut through the air and I couldn't help the slight smile that broke across my face. I watched as she showed him her ring in excitement and, even though I couldn't hear what she was saying, I knew what she was talking about.

"You know, she loves you a lot," Opie broke through my thoughts.

"And I love her too. She's mine," I reminded him.

"I know. She knows. We all know," he answered. "She's a good old lady, Juice. She's just really young. And head strong. That's what makes her Moon."

"Trust me, I know." I said shortly. I studied Kozik carefully. It wasn't that I didn't trust him. I just didn't want him to get any ideas about my girl.

"He's not a threat either."

"I know."

"I'm a brother, Juice. I care about Moon, as your old lady and as Donna's best friend. She's like a little sister to me," Opie informed me. "You can't pretend that doesn't mean anything."

"She can do whatever she wants. I'm just going to make sure she never puts herself in front of a gun for you again."

"I didn't know she was doing that. I wouldn't have let her do it. I freaked out when she answered the door to me while you were in the hospital. It was late at night and she was just in your shirt and…"

"Why were you at our house late at night while I was in the hospital?" I cut him off.

"It was the day Caracara burnt down when I couldn't reach her and I was really worried."

"What reason did you have to be worried? It's not like she was involved in Caracara."

"I just wanted to check on her."

"This conversation isn't over. We'll have it after the lock down, when this all blows over," I growled.

"Fine. But you can't be this stubborn forever."

"Try me."

I was laughing at Lyla's story about Kenny and Piper finding a pair of her "special" handcuffs when my phone rang. It was Juice. I held up my hand and ordered, "Wait just a minute. I have to answer this."

"Baby, Abel's been kidnapped. Half Sack's dead. Gemma's gone. We don't know what the fuck is going on. I need you out of town, tonight. Go back to college and don't come back until your term is over. You have a month and a half. I need you on a plane tonight. You can't be in Charming right now. Start saying your goodbyes now."

"But…"

"No buts. I told you that I'm not going to let you put yourself in danger for the club and I'm not. You're leaving."

"Juice…"

"I love you. Bye."

"I…" he hung up and I stared at Lyla with wide eyes.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Things are going to hell," I murmured.


End file.
